


The Walls Kept Tumbling Down

by AdamselNdistress



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Angst, Apocalypse, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Infected Characters, Infection, Levi/Eren Yeager-centric, M/M, Modern Era, Trapped, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-02-28 16:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13275711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdamselNdistress/pseuds/AdamselNdistress
Summary: "Nobody wanted to hear shit like, 'I’m sorry,' 'Please forgive me,' 'I screwed up,' 'We’re trapped,' in an apocalyptic world.It always meant the worst. Eren knew that. Eren knew Levi knew that."ORThe one where an infection broke out, turning humans into cannibalistic rotting flesh creatures who feed on the living. Part of a mission but isolated from their team, Eren and Christa lead a horde of the infected down city streets only to run into debris blocking their path. They're trapped.





	1. Live or Let Die

Eren came to an abrupt halt, panting hard puffs of cold air on the abandon city street in Lower Manhattan.

_This area wasn’t supposed to be blocked…_ He thought frantically, fear trickling through his veins sending chills down his pale arms. With wide eyes and pupils dilated, he risked a glance over at Christa to see that she was just as confused. Licking his chap lips nervously, he looked back to the pile of debris that blocked their route toward midtown.

There was no way around it. Buildings that once stood three days ago now were in bits and pieces all over the main road, keeping Eren and Christa from meeting up with the rest of the group. They couldn’t even make their way by climbing over it, the debris sat meters above their heads.

They definitely couldn’t go back either. The horde was coming, Eren could hear the once humans now cannibalistic beings wail in the distance. There was no way out except moving forward. It was deliberate, because it was a part of a plan. The infected had nowhere to go and get distracted once they found a part of the city whose streets contained no side alleyways or opened shop doors.

The horde was founded about a week ago a few miles away from their basecamp which was too close for comfort. They sat around dim lit rooms on rusty old couches for hours planning the safest way to get rid of the infected. They scouted the city days ago; all the streets, buildings, and traps were put perfectly in place for this day. So what had happened? How could this plan be ruined in only a matter of three days? Was someone else out here? Was this a trap? There were so many unanswered questions Eren had running through his head.

Unanswered questions that may remain that way as he and Christa stared death in its face. Time was a bitch and disappeared around one corner as the first of the infected horde came around the other.

Eren gulped rather loudly, bile rising in his throat wanting to throw up the oatmeal he ate this morning. With uncontrollable shaking hands, he pulled out his walkie-talkie and cleared his throat. He took another glance at Christa before pressing down on the com to speak.

“L-Levi,” he choked out.

He noticed Christa still hadn’t move an ounce, deep blue eyes glossed over with unshed tears still staring at the mess in front of them. Eren continued to look at Christa, her half shaven head was a consequence from an accident that happened almost a year ago. Her blonde hair now only fell to the right side of her small frame, her left almost completely bare save for a scar that resulted in 32 stitches at the time and one raging overprotective girlfriend. This was the first mission she was cleared to be a part of within that year gap which led Eren to silently apologize for her grade a shitty luck.

If he hadn’t been obsessing over the amount of guilt he felt for the girl, he may have heard Levi’s reply on the other end of the com.

Eren thought of Christa’s girlfriend now, how Ymir stood screaming in a makeshift medical room as Christa was brought in, blood trailing on the floors to all over the cot a year ago. Christa waited so long to get back out and help the team again. Months of staying in bed, fights with Ymir about letting her go out, pushing herself to her limit through headaches and sharp pains to be a part of the team again. To make sure her family and friends back at base remained safe. So many sacrifices for what? Eren wondered. For another plan to end up failing. To end up dying.

Christa had been ready all week for this opportunity. To prove to the team that she can continue to fight for those who could not. Eren looked at the woven poncho she wore, bright green and white, made from the hands of Sasha as a “get well soon” gift. She wore a darker, forest green scarf that wrapped around her neck a couple times that usually covered her face up to her nose but was pulled now to under her chin so that she could breathe in panic easier. Another gift it was, from Ymir.

“EREN!” Suddenly came Levi’s demanding voice.

Eren tore his gaze away from Christa at the sudden interruption that ripped his mind from the past back to hell.

“I-I’m here,” he stuttered quietly. Dejectedly.

The bright eyed boy glanced over his shoulder. The horde was about a half mile away. Luckily it wasn’t some World War Z shit where those fuckers tore into your flesh and bones in the matter of seconds. The infected here were slow going for the most part. It wasn’t how fast they were that killed off people in Eren’s world. It was the numbers. Always the numbers and the never knowing of where they could show up.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Levi demanded again, voice colder than a White Walker’s personality.

“We’re fucked, Levi.”

There was a stretched pause as Eren waited for his reply. The cries of the infected were increasing as they smelled fresh meat waiting.

“What the _fuck_ does that mean dipshit?!” Levi roared so loud, Eren was sure he didn’t even need a com to hear him. The younger man knew Levi’s anger wasn’t directed at him. In fact it wasn’t anger so much as it was fear. Terror. Panic. Concern. Gut-wrenching concern that made the last of the butterflies in Eren’s stomach flutter.

“We’re trapped,” Eren sighed, dragging his hand down his face. He didn’t want to picture Levi right now, crushed, heart dropping to the bottom of the Earth as he said those words. Nobody wanted to hear shit like, “I’m sorry,” “Please forgive me,” “I screwed up,” “We’re trapped,” in an apocalyptic world.

It always meant the worst. Eren knew that. Eren knew Levi knew that.

“What does that mean Eren?!” His Captain screamed anyway. Always his Captain, forever would be.  “You better start explaining or go and unfuck yourself because so help me god when I see you again I’m going to beat you shitless,” Levi threatened.

Eren wanted to laugh. To cry. He wanted nothing more than to be in Levi’s arms again.

Christa let the first tear roll down her cheek. Eren grabbed the smaller girl’s hand and when she still didn’t budge he engulfed her into a hug. His chin laid rest on top of her head as he squeezed the fabric on her backside. Slowly, Christa returned the gesture sobbing now.

_Why?!_  Eren’s subconscious screamed at him. Why did this happen? They had already been through and lost so much. They deserved to live.

The sun started to set, sending a glow over themselves in contrast of their dire situation. Eren stood there staring at the crushed building behind Christa as helplessness consumed him.  The infected still slowly made their way over, some walking others crawling, and Eren almost seemed to think how cruel the world was being. The faster it was over the better.

He could fight, sure, but there was no way he would be getting anywhere without a few more added bite marks. One to Christa and she’s as good as gone. One to Eren and he’d have to fight off another fever but he’d live. They found out long ago that Eren was immune to turning. Their home base scientist Hange still couldn’t for the life of them figure it out but it definitely had something to do with Eren’s blood. He’d been bitten right off the bat when humans first became infected trying to save a cat much to Levi’s horror. He remembered the shorter man going on a rampage, killing all infected within a three mile radius when it happened. It was not a good day to say the least although the cat’s name is Titan and he still lives to this day.

He couldn’t protect Christa, it was as simple as that. There were too many of them. He continued to stand there cursing their luck until he spotted a few rusty rungs still attached to the brick walls of what once was an apartment building he figured.

_Fire escape,_ the back of his mind provided.

Eren gasped out loud, let go of his hold on Christa to grab her child-like hand and sprinted toward it. He didn’t want to acknowledge how he didn’t notice it sooner. The infected were almost among them, and he had to pull out a sword from his utility belt to kill the first one off that reached for him.

“GO!” He screamed at Christa, eyes blazing as he shoved her toward what was left of the escape. Half of it was still torn down but there were enough rungs to get her on top of debris so that she could start climbing toward the other side.

The blonde girl frantically started moving up the escape but stopped as soon as she realized Eren hadn’t follow suit. She turned her head around to see Eren fighting off the infected that threatened to follow.

“EREN!” She screamed; dread making her body feel a thousand times heavier. She stepped down one rung, attempting to return to Eren to help but stopped as soon as he looked up to glare at her.

“Go, Christa! I’ll hold them off!” He yelled over the groans and screeches of moving rotting flesh.

“No! Eren, I’ll-”

“I said go! Or you’ll get us both killed!” Eren growled out. It was a cheap shot but it was necessary. He couldn’t fight off the infected while worrying about her as well.

Christa flinched at the demand and stared for a few more seconds, seeing the absolute in Eren’s titan green now turned honey gold eyes. She gulped nervously and gave a sullen nod. She turned back to the task at hand and made her way up the escape. Her goal would be to find Levi as fast as she could so they could return and help Eren.

Eren would have followed but these infected have the ability to learn, which was absolutely ridiculous. At least some of them did. Selected few (probably from Satan himself), knew how to climb, jump, and in rare cases sprint. Eren’s group called them abnormal. There weren’t many but they did exist and Eren couldn’t take the chance of any of them following Christa back to the team.

So he would stay behind and fight.

“Eren! Where the fuck are you?! You better still be alive-”

“Levi I found Christa a way out!” He interrupted, dodging a thin ashen arm that tried to grab at his shirt. He was well aware Levi had been screaming profanities into the com the entire time.

There was another pause and then, “Great. Now where are _you_?”

Eren deliberated on telling Levi where was. He didn’t want to risk his boyfriend’s life. This horde was huge, contained about seventy infected and there was no way in this current hell that he’d let Levi come help him. Sure Christa would tell him eventually but it still gave Eren plenty of time to fight off as many as he could. The risk in doing so would be that even though he couldn’t turn, he still had to worry about his intestines being ripped out from inside his body. Whatever this infection was had given these previous humans supernatural strength.

“ **Eren don’t you fucking dare.** ” Levi said, venom dripping throughout the words already a step ahead of Eren and what he was thinking.

Eren sighed again. He didn’t want to say _those_ words. He didn’t want to be _that_ guy in a zombie story but it was all that came to mind. It was all he could think of that would sum up his gratitude for Levi and what he had done for him all these years in case today was the day he died. He tried to reframe from saying what he’s about to say many times but in this moment it felt needed.

“I’m sorry Levi-”

“Eren don’t!”

“Please forgive me-”

“Eren just tell me where you are!”

“I love you.”

And with that, Eren cut off his communication.

* * *

 

The brown haired boy stood there panting, the sun now long gone as he looked among the remaining infected in front of him. His determination had dulled as exhaustion took place, his eyes returning to its natural color.  

_I can do this…_ he thought, keeping one sword in a defensive position as he sat on a knee.  Six new bite marks were added to his collection of light scars. Scrapes and bruises accompanied the bite marks throughout his fight and he was pretty sure he hit his head somewhere in the middle of the commotion.

There weren’t that many left, _12, 13, 14,_ Eren counted. _I can do this,_ he thought again.

With all the strength he could muster, he rose to his feet, his body shaking ferociously as he fought to stay up straight.

“I can do this,” he breathed out loud this time. His grip tightened on the hilt of his swords before taking a step forward but before he could run into battle once more, black and red dots clouded his vision as his head swarmed in dizziness. All of a sudden he felt sick to his stomach and weak as a toddler taking steps for their first time. He swore he heard Levi in the distance yell his name but it was probably just his subconscious trying to comfort him.

The world suddenly shifted and Eren now laid among the dead.

Eren thought, _how ironic,_ hoping to whatever gods would listen to him that this wasn’t some foreshadowing bullshit his English professors went on and on about back in the day. He watched as a small child, maybe the age of eight or so wearing a blood splattered _My Little Pony_ shirt walk agonizingly slow toward him. She was missing an arm and the skin around her jaw and fallen away, leaving rotted teeth to show in its place. Her eyes were that red rimmed sick piss stained color, that all the infected shared. How cruel this world was for taking away innocent children like this. One day in the past, this little girl probably sat down to watch Saturday morning cartoons with her siblings or maybe her parents and the next, she’s roaming the streets aimlessly eating anything and everything that was undead.

Eren couldn’t see anymore. His vision became blurry to the point where he couldn’t make out anything so he shut his eyes and he listened in on the child drag her feet closer. As he continued to fall into the dark abyss that welcomed him, Levi was the last conscious thought on his mind and in his heart.

 

 


	2. Hold My Hand

Hearing the tormented screaming and murderous groans, Eren slowly came to conscious, opening his eyes to see his worst nightmare coming true. His friends were scattered about, fighting off the dead-and losing. He watched in terror as Sasha’s arm was torn from her body, one of the unliving gnawing on the end of her elbow that stuck out. He saw Jean trying to protect Armin to the best of his ability and if it wasn’t for the hoard that swarmed them from above a rooftop, tearing their flesh open from the neck down, they may have been able to escape.

Mikasa was nowhere in sight, Hange was missing her entire jaw, and Marco sat against a brick wall, the vertical half of his body devoured. But it wasn’t until Eren saw the familiar backside of an undercut peeking out between dozens of bodies that got his full attention. Absolute fear sucked whatever air Eren had left in his lungs as blood dripped from his mouth and nose, beaten up fingers grabbing whatever part of the pavement he could to drag himself closer to the unmoving body.

“…vi…” He tried calling out, but his voice too raw to make it above a whisper.

What the fuck had happened? How did it come to this? The last thing Eren remembered was trying to get Christa to safety. Gathering enough strength, the boy tried pulling himself towards his boyfriend halting immediately when he felt his body weight had lessened. Either he was subscribed to the lose 100 pounds in ten minutes-the apoplectic way-or something awful had happened. Eren confirmed it was the latter that had occurred as he looked down to see the middle of his torso and down completely missing. His intestines had left trials of blood from when he dragged his body forward and had anyone been left to mistake him as one of the undead, they would have shot him by now.

The weird thing was that he felt no pain. He merely felt numb, his eyes glossed over with defeat as he pondered if this is what everyone felt when they died or did others experience life before death differently?

Eren silently screamed as he slammed his head back down against the pavement, clenching his eyes shut, trying to block the horrors of the world out just for a moment. It took a minute before he concluded that there was no point in reprimanding himself as he would be just as dead as the others soon. He only wanted to see Levi one last time before he shut his eyes for good.

Getting himself together as much as half of a body could, Eren flipped over and slowly dragged himself across the street once more.

“Levi…” he weakly called out again.

He was few feet away from the raven-haired man when Levi’s head suddenly flipped abruptly to look at Eren. It was enough of a scare to make the younger flinch as he looked into not of the eyes of his boyfriend but those of the infected. Dark protruding veins snaked their way across Levi’s eyes down into his cheeks as his mouth moved to say something.

“LEVI!” Eren finally managed, tears falling profusely as snot and blood collided down his chin to the ground.

“E-Eren…” Levi gasped, his body shaking, trying to fight off the infection to get his last words out.

“Levi, I’m coming, just hang on!” Eren said, dragging himself another foot.

“Don’t…” Levi struggled for air.

Eren tried his best to listen but out of the corner of his eyes he saw Armin’s once bright blue eyes now consumed by the same color of Levi’s look towards him. The blonde boy’s body jerked at odd angles a couple of times before he righted himself up and made his way toward them, dragging his left leg behind the right, his neck permanently craned to his shoulder.

Gasping for air, Eren tried desperately to crawl faster but he wasn’t getting far.

“Don’t…” he heard Levi call again.

“Levi!” Eren yelled frantically as Armin continued to make his way over. A couple more pulls with his overused arm, Eren finally reached Levi to put a hand on his arm reassuringly when Levi suddenly flipped the same arm to grab a hold of Eren’s, his fingernails filling with Eren’s blood and leaving crescent like marks as he screamed, “Don’t leave me!”

Eren laid there in shock before registering what his boyfriend just said. When he did, he grabbed onto Levi’s arm just as hard and yelled back, “I’m not Levi! I-I’m right here, I’m here and I love you!” he repeated, afraid Levi wouldn’t be able to understand or hear him in the next couple of seconds.

Levi didn’t say anything else except “Don’t leave me” over and over again as Eren sobbed, choked on his own words, and wiped the excess mucus off his face. The younger boy lifted his head around to see Armin about a couple feet away which brought on another round of wrecked sobs, a couple attempts at gagging, and it was getting even more difficult to breathe. In the back of his head, Eren wondered how he lasted living this long with a good percentage of his body missing but only prayed to the gods above that they’d spare him one minute more to say goodbye to Levi.

“A-Armin! Don’t!” He begged to the rotting boy, hoping he’d have some kind of sliver of recognition of who Eren was.

But Armin didn’t register a thing and so the brunette helplessly turned back around to reassure Levi one last time.

“Levi! I’m here! I LO-“

And with the force of a thousand men, Eren’s skull snapped back and cracked against the hard pavement as he was yanked backward towards his ultimate end.

The last thing he heard over his own deafening cries was Levi screaming out, “You me promised Eren!” in that monstrous infected voice the boy had lived to hate.

The last thing he saw was his best friend’s decomposing mouth open to tear into his face.

* * *

 

Eren woke with a start, his heart beating faster than a woodpecker pecking. Chills ran up and down his arms, small drips of sweat falling off the side of his forehead down into soft white sheets of the makeshift cot.

He frantically searched his room for Armin’s infected soul, and then for Levi who was nowhere in sight. Seeing the shape of legs under his blankets he yanked them off to confirm that his body was intact and everything he had just witnessed was all a part of a vivid nightmare.

He let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding in for days as he rested back against his pillow, willing himself to calm the fuck down. Gradually he took in surroundings once more, hearing that damn annoying heart monitor beep to the side of him and watching the IV bag drip fluids down the plastic tube and into his arm.

Eren looked around, seeing the same old shitty painting Hange insisted on keeping up to  _comfort the patients_  when in reality, Eren thought it looked like someone took their own pile of shit and smudged lines all over a canvas. He even smelt it once, to be sure it wasn’t.

Speaking of the devil, he could hear before he saw Hange run down the corridor and slam open the door to his room. Instinctively, he plugged both of his ears before Hange had the chance to greet him.

“WELCOME BACK SUNSHINE!” They yelled what seem to be louder than usual, most likely on purpose seeing Eren trying to block them out.

“Hange-please. I just woke up,” he mumbled out, dropping his hands to his thighs.

“Don’t I know it,” the energetic person said, looking down at a few papers on their clipboard and walking to stand beside the boy to say, “But it’s nothing you haven’t been through before hm, Eren?”

Hange turned back around and started pacing, throwing up fingers as they listed off, “Bite marks, unconsciousness, the regular fever that accompanies it, dehydration, then you’re good as new with another scar and another story to tell with the same old grumpy ass nagging boy of your-”

“Levi! Where is he?!”  Eren interrupted, his gut clenching almost painfully in anticipation to know if Levi was really okay or not.

“I told you sunshine, it’s the same old, same old. He hadn’t left your side as per usual, until I threatened him with gory details of my latest dissection,” getting that special gleam in their eye and that creepy almost too shiny smile only mad scientists could have, Hange asked, “Do you want to hear about it Eren?”

“No-”

“It’s quite fascinating really. This infected guy I had Moblit drag into my lab was mostly put together, all of his limbs attached, organs in place and so forth. The crazy thing was since the digestive system goes kaput once somebody turns, it doesn’t dissolve anything they’ve eaten so when I opened the poor sucker up, I found about a dozen of fully intact fingers, some toes, and a nipple! Say Eren have you ever seen a nipple by itself before?! It’s something I certainly won’t forget. It’s crazy how these infected just sallow body parts whole- I mean this guy was so bloated, chunks of skin and bones clogged his lunges all the way to his throat where you could actually see the buildup if you opened his- well we didn’t really have to open his mouth since most of it had fallen off by the time we brought him back to-”

“I’m gonna be sick,” Eren interrupted before the delusional organism to the side of him could continue on. It wasn’t a lie either. Hange telling their story only brought back images of Eren’s nightmare to the point he started feeling nauseous. He got that sick clammy feeling before his stomach spilled itself into a magical self-appearing bucket. Not just any bucket, a yellow so bright it was making Eren’s headache worse sandcastle kind of bucket.

“What the…” Eren started to ask, lifting the thing to judge it further.

“This use to be an elementary school, remember? I saw it a couple days ago shoved into one of them dusty cubbies and figured there’s always a good use for a bucket so here we are.”

Eren didn’t even want to imagine where the young owner of the bucket must be now. Not a lot of kids survived the epidemic and those who did- especially those with A/B blood type- had been taken away for “safe keeping” but never to be seen again. Eren could count only three children behind the walls they had built and lived behind now.

“Anyways Eren, I’m sorry for not sparing you the gory details. Your fever is still wearing off so you might feel uneasy for the rest of the day. Just sit back, relax, and your lover should be coming back around shortly,” Hange  said as a dismal to leave the room after checking Eren’s vitals once more and writing updates down on the clipboard she brought.

The chestnut hair colored boy would have blushed at the end of the statement had it not been for the dread that explosively combusted. Now that everything was slowly coming to him, he had a good minute to think about the kinds of consequences Levi would bring back. After all, Eren did leave him hanging in that overly dramatic cinematic way on the walkie-talkie he remembered. Sure it was for good reason, Eren really thought he was going to die in the moment-but more than half the time he thinks he’s going to die every time he catches his pinky toe on the corner of a door too.  _No, no,_  Eren thought to himself, shaking his head,  _I was completely swarmed._ In fact, how did he not die? He remembers disobeying Levi’s orders to run back to the squad, then telling the shorter man that he loved him over coms, and protecting Christa from the crowd of the undead making sure none would follow her but then what? There was that same feeling of being blacked out drunk, not remembering-no matter how hard he tried of what had happened just like the previous times.

He didn’t dwell on it too long realizing how pissed Levi probably was the more he remembered what he put his boyfriend through. In fact, Eren was scared now.

Before Hange completely left the room Eren called out, “Wait Hange,” which they did, looking startled.

“Shut the door and lock it.”

“What? Why?”

“Hange, Levi’s going to be so fucking pissed at what I did, he might finally kill me himself,” Eren said, urging the crazy person to follow his request (demand).

“Yeah pumpkin, what do you think I had to deal with in the last three days? You scared him pretty badly. You scared all of us,” Hange said, normal for once and giving Eren a meaningful look. “And it’s not like this is the first time this has happened Eren.”

The boy felt bad, really he did. But his headache was bouncing around like an old ping pong video game, his body ached everywhere, and he just wanted to guarantee another peaceful hour to get his shit together.  Make himself look more presentable to help calm Levi down and to get some responses ready for the oncoming explanations he’d have to give.

“Seriously, if he doesn’t kill me then he’ll kick the shit out of me and you’ll have to wait extra weeks to run experiments again. Maybe even months,” Eren said, trying to persuade the community doctor.

Hange did consider for a good moment. It would be rather detrimental to her studies but if Levi could knock some sense into the boy to be taking better care of himself then Hange would prefer that.

“Sorry kiddo, you’re just going to have to be the young adult slash responsible partner you are and pay the price,” Hange concluded.

“All I’m asking is for an hour. To freshen up, take a piss, and keep my head from spinning before he-”

“Before  _he what?”_ came the ice cold response that caused an entirely different set of shivers to run through Eren’s system as his eyes widened out of fear and his mouth clamped shut.

Getting over the initial shock that Levi had been leaning against the door for however long-Eren certainly didn’t want to know- he turned to face the man. Levi was of course composed, not letting a single emotion ripple through his infamous stoic posture, his face blank, and those metallic like eyes sharper than a shine reflecting off a day time signal mirror.

It was the look Eren never knew how to read after all these years. A look that was ever rarely used on him. He’s even been in situations like this in the past and Levi still hadn’t looked at him like he is now. Something was different and Eren for the life of him couldn’t figure out what it was.

Out of his peripheral vision, he vaguely noticed Hange’s presence had at some point left the room which left Eren alone to any mercy the man before him was willing to give.

Sure the younger boy’s nerves were running like cowards out of his ass right now and  _did it just get twenty degrees cooler in here or is it just me?_  He pondered in the back of his head but that sick feeling quelled immensely at the sight that Levi was unharmed. Eren registered that feeling being relief as he inspected every single inch of Levi, confirming and reconfirming that there was in fact no physical damage he could see. His eye color was as it should be, there were no dark protruding veins like in his nightmare, and his voice lacked the demonic screech the infected had.

Eren didn’t care how hard Levi stared at him because Levi was  _okay_  and that’s all that mattered to him in that moment.

“L-Levi,” Eren croaked, overwhelmed with his emotions. Before he knew what he was doing, he grabbed the blankets that lay on top of him with one hand and pulled them off while swinging his legs over the edge of the bed at the same time. Eren hastily stood up and took a second for the light headedness to stop before trying to take a shaky step forward.

Levi’s reaction was immediate as his passive barrier broke a little, his eyes and frown now radiating concern for Eren.

“Stop it dipshit before you hurt yourself more,” he said in an affectionate tone. To anyone else it would sound as if Levi meant it as an insult but Eren could feel the warmth underlying the words. It was just Levi’s way of showing that he cared.

Levi had moved forward as he talked, gently taking ahold of Eren’s waist before the kid lost his balance.

“Let’s get you-“

“Levi!” Eren suddenly gasped out. Levi had been so focused on leaning around his taller boyfriend trying to find a way to get him situated again that he hadn’t realized Eren’s stream of tears run down his face.

Levi reached up to caress the side of Eren’s cheek as he thumbed away at the wet tracks. It only made Eren cry harder as the boy grabbed fists full of Levi’s shirt, afraid all of this had suddenly been a dream and Levi would disappear at any seconds, and rested his head against the man’s chest.  

“Y-you were dead…” Eren whispered.

Snapping out of his confused state, Levi encircled himself around the top of Eren’s head, his hands softly running through the kid’s short locks and whispered back against his ear, “I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. Shhh, we’re safe, we’re okay.”

“And Armin? What about Sash-”

“I just told you. Besides Armin wasn’t even there, remember?”

It took a good while standing in silence, the only noise being Eren trying to control himself with a couple of hiccups here and there and the constant noises of the machinery in the room, but Eren finally nodded taking in what Levi had said.

With a long suffering sigh, the older man pulled away a bit to kiss Eren’s forehead lovingly before slightly pushing him back toward the bed.

“Come on, you need more rest. You look like a used dildo,” Levi said that earned a small but genuine laugh from his boy. Eren wiped the rest of his tears away as he laid back down in bed, letting Levi pull the covers back up. However, before Levi could tuck him in completely, Eren grabbed one of his hands; his gaze turned downwards as if he were ashamed and asked, “Will you lay here with me?”

Levi stared at the younger boy waiting for Eren to meet his gaze, willing him to know it was perfectly normal to be scared and to want reassurance but Eren merely gripped Levi’s hand harder until the raven haired man gave up and swatted Eren to move over on the cot.

Laying his head on Levi’s chest, feeling his arm snake underneath him to hold Eren closer, the younger boy thought how lucky he was to have Levi in his life. By all means their love and affection for one another wasn’t immediate as they had only just begun dating at the end of Levi’s senior year in college and then the breakout happened, separating the two for a good period of time before they were reunited-which was purely by coincidence, and Levi almost shot Eren on spot. But over the couple of years, their bond only grew stronger and not many people had a chance at such a relationship these days.

Eren glanced down at two new bite barks that were currently covered by an excessive amount of gauze, thanks to Hange no doubt, and thanked his lucky stars that no matter how many times he was bit Eren never turned. He also thanked his lucky stars that Levi didn’t start yelling at him right away, or kick him across the face (there were exactly three previous incidents where that happened after waking up from a bite, “ _Just in case,”_ was always Levi’s excuse).

With strong arms holding him tight to the older man’s chest, Eren was able to sleep peacefully this time around knowing Levi would keep the monsters, mental and physical, away.

* * *

 

The next day, Eren felt whole loads better. His headache disappeared, that sick feeling in his stomach had dissolved, and he felt like his regular self again. The only reason he was still confined to a bed was on Hange’s orders. They wanted to be extra safe in making sure Eren wouldn’t fall on his face the second he left the building. “ _Another day won’t kill you,”_  Hange had said ironically.

Levi was at his side again, bringing the younger boy breakfast and lunch but it seemed like Levi was minimizing their conversations. No matter how hard Eren tried to go in depth on a topic, Levi would simply nod and give couple worded replies. Eren  _knew_  there was an awkward tension in the air the moment Levi barely acknowledged his good morning, but he figured his boyfriend hadn’t had the right amount of caffeine in his system yet. Now, it was nearing twilight and that stiff atmosphere remained.

Eren looked up to see the raven haired man walk back through the door after being gone for almost two hours, needing to update Erwin on a few things before returning.

Eren saw that hardened look in his eyes again as Levi walked towards his bed. The young boy fidgeted with his hands nervously, that impending feeling of doom and despair crushing his heart, knowing some kind of shit was about to explode from Hange’s painting.

When Levi finally reached the side of his bed, his gaze never breaking away from Eren’s bright eyes, the chocolate haired boy’s mind went numb and he sat a little straighter as he heard Levi say in that bitter dark cold voice of his,

“We need to talk.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am terribly sorry for the late update.
> 
> I am happy to say that I have now visited Manhattan and explored New York so I have a better idea of what it looks like.
> 
> I also want to thank everyone who read the story, left kudos, and especially those who commented and replied to my questions about the story and the first chapter, thank you so much for your input. I think I will make this story about 10 chapters long or so and probably no more since I’m such a horrible updater. This chapter has actually been written for a couple of months but I never got back to rereading it until now and I just figured better to throw it up and out there than having it sit in my document folder. I do have a good idea on where I’d like this story to go so I hope you all continue to read it! I hope this chapter also met your expectations!
> 
> Also, what’s everyone’s favorite kind of fast food places to eat?
> 
> Anyways thank you for your continuous support, please feel free to leave kudos and comments as I’m sure you know, it gives motivation to write! Have a great week everyone :)
> 
> -A Damsel in Distress

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve never been to Manhattan. Or New York in general.  
> I like to spell Christa not Krista.  
> So another chapter? Orrrr leave as is to the imagination?  
> Orrrr did this suck completely and let’s forget this ever existed haha.  
> Let me know and thank you for reading!  
> -AdamselNDistress


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